The sun shone brightly in the forest outside Otogakure.
However, Naruto, who was walking at the very front of the group, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Something was wrong—
There was a hint of strangeness in his senses, yet his sensory perception had detected no abnormalities.
"What's wrong, Naruto?"
Karin, following behind him, stopped in confusion as her Mind's Eye of the Kagura sensory web instantly expanded, scanning the surroundings.
"I don't detect any chakra reactions within my sensory range."
Naruto nodded slightly; his own perception hadn't found anything unusual either.
And so...
He stood there quietly, his eyes half-closed.
Third Stage Gene Lock, open.
All five of his senses, combined with his chakra perception, gathered every bit of information from the surroundings.
The frequency of the swaying leaves, the trajectory of the wind, the chirping of the insects—all this information converged in his mind and was modeled.
In this perfect natural canvas, there was an extremely tiny sense of incongruity.
"It's nothing."
Naruto looked at a large tree not far away, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"I just found a... little mouse."
Boom!
Before his voice had even faded, the ground where Naruto had been standing instantly exploded, sending dirt flying.
His body vanished from the spot, moving so fast that even an afterimage was hard to catch.
Fifty meters away, on a seemingly ordinary tree.
A White Zetsu was perfectly fused into the trunk, with only one eye exposed, monitoring the group from afar.
"I must tell Obito, they are changing bases—"
Suddenly, he noticed Naruto had stopped.
Immediately after, the blond youth turned his head, his gaze piercing through dozens of meters and layers of obstructing trees to look precisely and coldly at him.
I've been spotted!
How is this possible! My Mayfly Technique can even shield me from a Kage's perception.
Oh no! Run!
Sensing danger, White Zetsu's body immediately tried to dive deeper into the earth.
However, he was still a step too late.
Bang!
A golden chain pierced through the tree trunk without warning, wrapping around White Zetsu's neck with unerring precision.
"Caught you."
A cold voice rang in White Zetsu's ear.
Before White Zetsu could react, a massive force pulled on him.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
Like a weed being uprooted, White Zetsu was forcibly dragged out of the tree trunk by Naruto and held up in the air.
"Wha—How is this possible—"
White Zetsu's face was filled with terror.
His Mayfly Technique was supposedly the ninja world's best infiltration ninjutsu; how could he be located instantly?
Two more chains appeared behind Naruto, plunging into the ground like venomous snakes.
Following two muffled thuds,
two more White Zetsu clones were skewered underground and lifted into the air by the chains like meat on a skewer.
"What... is this thing?"
Naruto carefully examined the unknown creature before him.
The others from not far away also rushed over.
"Is it Zetsu?"
Orochimaru had seen this creature in the Akatsuki; it was responsible for delivering intelligence, but he'd never had the chance to get close.
Looking at the three white figures controlled by Naruto, Orochimaru flicked his long tongue and licked his lips.
"This creature... this chakra is so full of vitality—"
"There's no mistake. Are these... the cells of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama?"
Tsunade's expression changed drastically as she hurriedly stepped forward.
When she saw White Zetsu's eerie semi-plant, semi-biological structure, she felt a wave of physical nausea, followed by deep shock.
"How is this possible... someone actually managed to culture Grandfather's cells into this kind of... living organism?"
"Quite interesting, isn't it?"
Naruto looked at the creature, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
At this moment, White Zetsu was still trying to struggle, even attempting to self-destruct.
An invisible wave of spiritual pressure suddenly erupted from Naruto.
Conqueror's Haki.
Even most ninja with strong wills couldn't resist it, let alone biological weapons like White Zetsu that possessed only rudimentary cognitive abilities.
Faced with this mental impact, they collapsed instantly.
The three White Zetsu lost consciousness simultaneously, becoming literal vegetables.
"Next, let's see what secrets are hidden in your heads."
Mind Reading and Spiritual Intrusion.
Their defenseless minds were completely open to Naruto.
A vast amount of information was instantly received by Naruto.
"Collecting tailed beasts—reviving the Ten-Tails—Infinite Tsukuyomi—"
"Eye of the Moon Plan—Uchiha Madara—Uchiha Obito—"
A moment later, a playful smile curled on Naruto's lips.
"I see. So such an organization was hiding in the shadows of the ninja world."
"Deluding themselves into thinking they can bring world peace through illusions?"
"It truly is... a cowardly and incompetent plan."
"Only cowards who flee from reality would choose to live in a dream."
"The strong will personally reshape reality into the image of their dreams."
Naruto pulled out a sealing scroll and roughly sealed the three White Zetsu inside.
"Naruto, these things—what exactly are they?"
Tsunade asked hesitantly.
"A biological weapon called White Zetsu, mass-produced using the cells of the First Hokage."
Naruto tossed the scroll to Yakushi Kabuto and said calmly.
"Orochimaru, Tsunade, Kabuto, I'm leaving these materials to you."
"Study their cellular structure thoroughly."
"Though they are inferior products of the First Hokage's cells, they're plentiful and have tenacious vitality."
"Cultivate more of these; they'll serve as perfect test subjects."
"With these things, our resurrection plan has taken a major step forward."
Orochimaru and Kabuto exchanged a look, both seeing the fanaticism in each other's eyes.
Using biological weapons made from the First Hokage's cells as host bodies—
This was material practically tailor-made for their plan!
To think that before the plan had even fully begun, such results were delivered for free.
"As you command, Lord Naruto."
Having handled this little interlude, the group continued forward.
Two days later.
When the group passed through the woods and stepped onto the soil of the Land of Waves, even Naruto himself was slightly stunned.
Behind him, Suigetsu widened his eyes in disbelief, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Hey, hey... are you kidding me? This is supposed to be that godforsaken Land of Waves?"
The Land of Waves was very close to the Land of Water, so Suigetsu had been here before.
It had just been an unremarkable, poor fishing village like any other.
It was precisely because he knew what it used to be like that he was so shocked by the sight before him.
After not seeing it for a while, it had actually undergone such a world-shaking transformation.
A massive trans-oceanic bridge connected it to the mainland, bustling with traffic as pedestrians and merchant caravans flowed incessantly.
—
By the docks, a large number of merchant ships were loading and unloading cargo.
The once-dilapidated fishing village had now become a small town of significant scale.
The streets were well-designed, appearing spacious and clean.
The patrolling security force wore uniform attire, bearing the emblem of the Mutual Aid Society designed by Naruto.
No one looked malnourished anymore; instead, their faces were filled with busy smiles.
"This... how was this achieved?"
Tsunade looked at the prosperous scene before her, unable to reconcile it with the once-ruined fishing village.
The vitality here was even greater than that of the current Konoha.
"It's quite simple."
Standing on high ground, Naruto overlooked the city he had built with his own hands, spreading his arms to feel the sea breeze.
"Just establish order, expel the parasites, and then take the wealth that originally belonged to them—even if just a small portion is invested back into construction—"
"The resulting explosion in productivity is enough to change everything."
He turned around to look at his shocked subordinates, a confident smile playing on his lips.
"Look."
"This is the prototype of the New World I intend to build."
"In the Far North, we will build something even more magnificent, more powerful, and more... unshakable."
"Let's go. It's time to see some old friends."